Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

The Prophet's Mosque — built by the Prophet ﷺ himself on arriving in Madinah, and his resting place beneath the Green Dome.

• Where: about 160 m from Masjid an-Nabawi in a straight line, on its north side (24.46865, 39.61117)
• City: Madinah

History

When the Prophet ﷺ reached Madinah in 622 CE, his camel knelt on a plot used for drying dates. He bought it and built the mosque with his own hands alongside his Companions: a courtyard about 35 by 30 m, walls of mud brick, a roof of palm trunks and fronds, and his family's rooms along the eastern wall. It was mosque, school, court and meeting hall of the first Muslim community.

Umar and Uthman enlarged it; the Umayyad caliph al-Walid rebuilt it in stone with the first minarets (707–712 CE) and brought the Prophet's rooms inside the mosque. The dome over his grave was built in 1279 and painted green in 1837. The Ottoman sultan Abdulmejid rebuilt the old mosque in the 1850s — the part with the painted domes you see today around the Rawdah.

The Saudi expansions (1951–55, then 1985–94 under King Fahd, with the sliding domes and the 250 courtyard umbrellas added in 2010) raised the capacity to around a million worshippers. The white marble courtyards, the tall minarets and the umbrellas that open at sunrise are the Madinah skyline.

What to do there

• Enter with the right foot and the dua for entering a mosque; pray two rak'ahs of greeting.
• Give salaam to the Prophet ﷺ, then to Abu Bakr and Umar, standing calmly before the chamber (see the Rawdah page).
• Pray as many of the five prayers here as you can — the reward is what pilgrims come for.
• Sit in the old Ottoman section to feel the original mosque: the pillars of the Rawdah are marked in white marble.

Tips for pilgrims

• Entry to the Rawdah is by free permit through the Nusuk app, with separate times for men and women.
• Shoes go in bags (free bags at the gates); leave them in the racks by the gate number you will exit from.
• The mosque never fully closes, but the Rawdah and the grave area have visiting hours.
• Umbrellas open around sunrise and close before sunset; the courtyards are cool under them even at midday.

Nearby places

• Ar-Rawdah ash-Sharifah (Green Dome) — 120 m away
• Al-Baqi main gate — 280 m away
• Masjid al-Ghamamah — 530 m away
• Al-Baqi Cemetery — 570 m away

Sources

• General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques
• Wikipedia: Al-Masjid an-Nabawi

Open Al-Masjid an-Nabawi on the UmrahMap 3D map for walking or driving directions, or see all Ziyarah places in Madinah.

Text by the UmrahMap content team from the sources listed; updated 2026-09-25. This text is still being reviewed by scholars. Visiting rules and opening hours can change — check locally.

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